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Seattle-Tacoma International Airport continues to roll out new dining and retail options. The latest to open is Ballard Brew Hall on Concourse D. The restaurant serves beer, wine, cocktails, and food options like breakfast tacos, burgers, salads, and fish and chips. According to the Port of Seattle site, the restaurant is “designed to reflect Seattle’s beer scene” and is “ideal for artisanal-minded travelers looking for local craft beer.” But it doesn’t appear to live up to that description.
According to early Yelp reviews — of which there are only two, so perhaps not a completely representative sample just yet — the restaurant could use improvement. Both reviews panned the service, food, and high prices.
The beer menu, which seemed like it could become the main draw here, isn’t exclusively locally focused, nor is it representative of Ballard’s impressive beer scene. There are options from Fremont Brewing, Mac and Jack’s, and Spokane’s No-Li Brewhouse, but curiously also several breweries that are not locally owned.
There’s Stella Artois, a Belgian beer owned by a subsidiary of the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, plus a bunch of breweries that masquerade as small and local but are owned by big out-of-town corporations: Eugene’s Hop Valley Brewing Company, a majority stake of which is owned by MillerCoors; Seattle’s Pyramid Brewing, owned by New York-based North American Breweries, Inc.; and Bend’s 10 Barrel Brewing and Seattle’s Elysian Brewing, both of which are owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
It’s not as if travelers in the D Concourse have a whole lot of other good options for beer drinking, sadly. There are, though, a slew of exciting new restaurants still to come, including Sam Choy’s Poke to the Max, Sunset Fried Chicken Sandwiches, and Good Bar. For more ideas on where to eat in the airport, see Eater Seattle’s airport dining guide.
